According to this link, New Jersey spends $2 million a mile that is 8 times above average. That means, in the US, average road construction cost is $250,000 per mile. That's $156,250 per kilometer.
In INR, that's Rs. 1.03 crore per kilometer.
According to this link, the cost of building national highways in India is 8-9 crore per kilometer. Without land acquisition, it is 4-5 crore per km
Essentially, this means, cost of constructing a highway in India is 5 times that in the USA. This is despite cheaper labour. At the outset, it may seem that the cost of raw materials could be a reason. But not so. The two important needs to construct a road are the jalli stones and coal tar.
Price of coal per ton in India (Aug 2015) : Rs. 3000 per ton
Price of coal per ton in USA (Feb 2015) : $45 per ton (Rs. 2971 per ton)
ETA: The article in the link above is for 2010. Here is a more recent article. According to this, an 8000 km project is worth 1 lakh crore. That makes the cost of road construction at present day value = Rs. 12.5 crore per kilometer. Since the project "was awarded", I am assuming this does not include land acquisition costs. But even then, the cost is so XXXXX
high.https://www.reddit.com/r/india/comments/3t59cr/india_vs_usa_cost_of_highway_construction/
In INR, that's Rs. 1.03 crore per kilometer.
According to this link, the cost of building national highways in India is 8-9 crore per kilometer. Without land acquisition, it is 4-5 crore per km
Essentially, this means, cost of constructing a highway in India is 5 times that in the USA. This is despite cheaper labour. At the outset, it may seem that the cost of raw materials could be a reason. But not so. The two important needs to construct a road are the jalli stones and coal tar.
Price of coal per ton in India (Aug 2015) : Rs. 3000 per ton
Price of coal per ton in USA (Feb 2015) : $45 per ton (Rs. 2971 per ton)
ETA: The article in the link above is for 2010. Here is a more recent article. According to this, an 8000 km project is worth 1 lakh crore. That makes the cost of road construction at present day value = Rs. 12.5 crore per kilometer. Since the project "was awarded", I am assuming this does not include land acquisition costs. But even then, the cost is so XXXXX
high.https://www.reddit.com/r/india/comments/3t59cr/india_vs_usa_cost_of_highway_construction/